The Game Awards Has A Bright Future, And Here's Why

When Geoff Keighley hosted the first Game Awards back in 2014, it was a very different animal compared to what it is today. According to Polygon, the very first ceremony pulled in nearly two million viewers, a respectable number for an awards show streamed only online. In 2019, Keighley revealed that 45.2 million people around the world watched The Game Awards.

In an interview with Variety, he patted himself on the back for this year's show, and rightfully so. After all, it was the staging ground for the next-generation Xbox reveal, a secret kept so close to the chest that it wasn't even mentioned in rehearsals. Keighley also did something very new this year, with The Game Festival bringing demos right into people's homes.

With all these positive results, Keighley knows that the future for The Game Awards isn't on traditional broadcast television. He intends to keep the show primarily online to target the audience that's tuning in.

"I think sometimes we get focused, especially in America, on the traditional broadcast networks as establishing something as being sort of mainstream, and I think what we've found over the years is that streaming is mainstream, and it's also way more accessible," he told Variety.

Furthermore, he wants to experiment a bit more with these streaming platforms in the future. Considering how many platforms there are, he could see potential partnerships with some of them, leading to content exclusive to a specific service.

Looking at next year, even Keighley seems unsure of what to expect exactly. Considering the new generation is nearly upon us, though, he knows it will be a big one. He's had his eye on bringing in guest celebrities like Keanu Reeves, who plays a prominent role in Cyberpunk 2077; we'll have to wait until next year for that. For now, all we know is that The Game Awards seems to be heading in a fairly promising direction.